A corruption-busting Chinese official has issued a stark warning to fellow politicians following a series of lurid bed-hopping scandals: don't cheat on your wives.

Speaking in the wake of a spate of sex scandals involving Communist Party officials, Mei Heqing, a senior member of an anti-corruption body in the city of Guangzhou, urged officials to rein in their libidos or face the consequences.

Mr Mei said that in 2012 his unit had investigated 61 government officials for corruption. "Thirty-eight of them, nearly 63%, have been found to keep mistresses or have more than one sexual partner," he told a news conference according to the state-controlled China Daily newspaper.

"These cases have had a very bad social effect," Mr Mei added.

Mr Mei's advice follows a succession of embarrassing disclosures about the extramarital activities of Chinese politicians.

The cases range from a village chief who allegedly kept four wives and had ten children to a police commander who promoted two sisters, who were allegedly both his mistresses, to his SWAT team.

The highest-profile allegations of betrayal have been levelled against former Chongqing party chief, Bo Xilai, whose wife was in August convicted of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood.

Mr Bo is set to go on trial next year and will face a lengthy list of accusations including charges that he "had or maintained inappropriate sexual relationships with a number of women".

Jiang Weiping, a Chinese journalist who has spent years investigating Mr Bo, has claimed the disgraced politician kept at least 100 mistresses.

In one of his first official speeches, incoming president Xi Jinping warned China's leaders they must tackle "despicable" acts of corruption or face "seething public anger, civil unrest and government collapse".